resistance

ISSUE TWENTY FIVE

DON'T VOTE,
ORGANISE!

So here we are again - its election time. Its time to be oh so grateful to
the powers that be for letting us choose exactly which group of them are
going to spend the next 5 years running the show. No doubt theyll be
shutting up libraries, running down hospitals, arming the police, locking
up our friends, starting wars, starving our grandparents, destroying our
environment, and generally making the enjoyment of life more fucking difficult
every day.

Does anyone still seriously believe that politicians are going to change
things for the better? Does anyone still seriously believe that they are
going to do anything other than what the police, the judges, the prison
governors, the company directors, the stinking rich want them to? Well? So
why vote?

Only one thing shifts power from the ruling elite to working class people,
and this is direct action. The direct action of the thousands of postal workers
who over the last year havent waited for orders from their union reps
to stick it to their bosses, but just got on with it themselves with wildcat
strikes and sit-ins. The direct action of the Glaswegians who are fighting
to make their community their own (see article below) and the Hackney parents
who took over a nursery which the council wanted to close down. The direct
action of the anti-capitalists who shook up the City of London in June 99
and had the combined power of 3 different police forces on the run.

So lets get together at work and spread the word that we dont
have to accept the day- to-day grind, the ever worsening pay and conditions.
Lets get together where we live, and let the council know that no more
cuts will be tolerated, and the police that no more patrols are wanted.

When we begin to organise ourselves and act together we soon realise the
power that we have in our own hands. When we act not to appeal to those in
authority, but to impose our power on them we soon realise our revolutionary
potential as a class.

Lifes too short to give party politicians another chance, another 5
years. Lets start making real change now.

..oh and by the way, WHO THE HELL IS LOUISE CHRISTIAN?

Louise Christian is the prospective parliamentary candidate for the Socialist
Alliance in Hornsey and Wood Green. She is well known as the lawyer representing
the victims of the Paddington rail crash. Less well known is her work for
UCATT, the Trade Union. A mere 5 years ago she served a High Court writ and
the threat of an injunction against Brian Higgins, the Northampton branch
secretary of UCATT. His crime? Writing a letter to a newspaper in which he
was critical of UCATT leader Dominic Hehir for refusing to support two builders
sacked by Southwark Direct Labour Organisation. Brian was also secretary
of the rank and file Building Workers Group, and as such represented a threat
to the established order within the union. No wonder the union leaders
didnt like him. And no wonder Louise Christian didnt either.
Both trade unions and Socialist politicians have always been more than a
little bit fond of the established order.

For more info contact: Haringey Heckler, PO 1681, London N8 7DN.

And in Manchester...

At the march in support of asylum seekers in Manchester on the 7th April,
The Socialist Alliance were out in force collecting money for their election
campaign - never mind the asylum seekers. One woman collecting, when challenged,
said she wasnt asking asylum seekers for money and she could tell by
the appearance of individuals who were and who were not asylum seekers. So,
not only was she a parasitical scumbags but she was also racist!

All front - no bottle

Despite having only a couple of dozen supporters the fascists of the National
Front (NF) have been glimpsed behind the massed ranks of police several times
recently. Not in Oldham though, where 1500 people representing all communities
from the Borough turned out to demonstrate against the them. The NF had spread
the word that they were planning to march there. This dominated the local
news. In the event the march didnt take place, probably because the
NF knew they were in for a good kicking if they turned up. They did manage
to turn up a couple of times in South London where they were greeted by hundreds
of counter demonstrators. And near Leicester on April 21st we found their
secret meeting point. The scum scarpered when they realised wed rumbled
them but not without getting a brick through their windscreen. Eventually,
under massive police protection (including the police having Section 60 stop
and search powers), they were able to hold a short march on a closed off
stretch of road. Pricks.

The weakest link

Christ, how we laughed when a contestant on The Weakest Link was voted off
for being a copper. Other contestants made no bones about their reasons for
wanting to see this little piggy scurrying back home. Chris, who held the
casting vote, proudly declared I felt it was my duty. So how
does it feel to be welcome nowhere copper? In fact, dont bother answering,
cos we couldnt give a fuck anyway.

NEWS OF THE WORLD

ON THE FRONTLINE

Glasgow: Struggle has broken out in the Govanhill area, as around
12 people from a group protesting against the closure of a local swimming
pool have occupyed the building, in events reminiscent of tactics used when
school closures were on the cards some years ago. Some have chained themselves
in, and all are refusing to leave until the city council meets their demands.
A 500 strong march has also taken place through the area, rallying high levels
of public support.

Once again we see the spectre of direct action being used in
community disputes. This can only increase as more and more cut backs are
made, and local amenities are sacrificed in the name of progress
and modernisation.

Israel/Palestine: Arabs and Jews march together in Land Day protests
at Israeli State land grabs in 76.

Turkey: Several days of street protests across country in response
to severe economic conditions as a result of political corruption and IMF
anti-inflation programme.

SEX SLAVERY

Across the globe thousands of women (predominantly) are being bought and
sold for sex. Most are from the most impoverished regions - S.E.Asia, Latin
America, West Africa. Across Europe thousands are kept as slaves. Some travel
willingly, others are duped, lied to, or forced to leave:

Albania: Shipped via throughout Europe to work brothelsand strip joints.

Britain: An MP was found using a massage parlour where Thai women
were being forcibly kept and made to work against their will

Canada: Government covered up foreign diplomats bringing in women
and children to work as domestic and sex slaves.

Kosovo: 12 women freed from captivity while awaiting export.
Arrested men were KLA freedom fighters! Serb and Albanian adversaries have
no problem working together selling women into slavery.

Timor/Indonesia: Indonesian army officers have forcibly shipped Timorese
women to Java to work as prostitutes.

A World To Win! These examples are a drop in the ocean. Sex sells, and women
are a commodity. There can be no clearer example of the horrors of authoritarian
society. This is the struggle for womens liberation, not putting the
odd female suit onto the boards of multinationals. Until all are free,
were all slaves.

CELEBRITY (PARTIAL) PRAT OF THE MONTH

When actors complain of exhaustion, I think, for Gods sake,
people are clocking up 12-hour shifts in factories. Actors get knackered
going to too many parties.

Melanie Hill, Actress

Well, blow us down! At last, something sensible to report from the mouth
of someone in the nefarious world of entertainment. But, truth to tell Melanie,
long hours hard at it before the grindstone are only the half of it.
Theres liverish bosses to put up with, crap pay that no film
star would ever dream of getting out of bed for, no security
in or out of work, unpleasant and boring conditions to contend with, and
the scenery is neither exotic nor does it ever change. Youre dead right
its no fun being working class these days (when was it ever?) and,
if were to be compelled to sell our lives in order to live, as we
unfailingly are under capitalism, then we reckon each and every genuine worker
deserves at least as much as any footballer or actress for their contribution
to society. After all, what makes celebrities lives more valuable
than those of the workers who actually produce and provide all the essentials?

TACO BELL HELL

Members of the Coalition of Immokalle Workers (CIW) and students across Florida,
USA are fighting against Taco Bell (TB). The Taco Bell Truth Tour
has been visiting TBs in many different cities, holding teach-ins, mass marches
and protests in a campaign against the working and living conditions of farmers
who pick TB tomatoes. Those who pick tomatoes for the Six Ls Packing Co.
Inc. are paid just 40c for every 32lb bucket they pick - the same piece
rate paid in 1978! The CIW has demanded the right to organise, have
requested overtime pay for overtime work, and various other items such as
health insurance, sick leave, paid holiday, etc....Meanwhile TB reported
profits of $5 billion in 1999, while Tricon (TBs parent company which
also owns Pizza Hut and KFC) earned over $22 billion last year. The CIW,
who organise from the bottom-up, have been successfully fighting back. Next
stop? Perhaps taking over the means of production themselves.

DO THE RIOT THING

Riots broke out in Cincinnati following the shooting of a black man in a
disgraceful act of murder by a lowlife of a cop. As people took to the streets
the authorities tried to subdue them with tear gas and rubber bullets only
to be met with bricks and real bullets. At least one pig was hit and seriously
injured as many of the angry rebels grabbed for their guns and met fire with
fire. The uprising continued for 3 days.

Anarchists have been at the forefront of protests against capitalists and
politicians meeting in Quebec. A statement for Quebec has also been issued
by anarchist communist groups from around the world, including the AF. For
more information on the protests, and the anarchist prisoners in need of
support contact the North Eastern Federation of Anarchist Communists:
nicolasphebus@yahoo.com,
www.nefac.org

PROFIT IS THE REAL DISEASE

Is there anybody in Britain aside from the government and NFU (National Farmers
Union - homicidal tendency) who actually thinks livestock shouldnt
have been vaccinated? So why this bizarre policy of obliterating livestock
production? Simple really, PROFIT!

The NFU represents agri-business. It uses small farmers as its disgruntled
stormtroopers to lever ever more concessions, which invariably favour big
producers. While small producers benefit from finance services from the NFU,
its leadership couldnt care less about them. Britain has the largest
sized land holdings and the most industrialised agriculture in Europe. It
looks with envy towards North American style prairie farming. The idea of
thousands of small producers being ruined and selling up on the cheap is
a dream come true for them. The NFU leaders and their ilk are the cats that
will get all the cream.

Mr 14 farms Willie Cleave the livestock trader posing as a farmer
who helped so much to spread the disease around Britain and into Europe will
earn £1.3million for his efforts, no doubt allowing him to buy up more
of his ruined neighbours. Anyone got a nice big pyre to stick him on perhaps?

The NFU and MAFF are a nest of thieves. National policies are joint efforts.
The slaughter policy is their way of defending export earnings, the ruination
of thousands of small producers a superb bonus.

RESISTANCE: A community at Lydney in Gloucestershire is refusing to allow
the slaughter of its healthy animals, and has barricaded out MAFF and the
Police. Many farmers, contrary to NFU bullshit dont support the slaughter
policy; we would like to know of other acts of defiance.

POSTAL WORKERS GO WILDCAT IN GLASGOW

Posties in Scotland have once again shown how things are done, by bringing
postal services to a complete standstill.

The strike started on 27th March after a manager was allowed to return to
his job after being grilled for making indecent proposals to a 16 year old
girl. Posties in the Springburn office where he works walked out, and pretty
soon, there were 3000 in total across the west of Scotland!

The unions and bosses shat a brick, especially when the following day, a
further 1600 workers walked out in Edinburgh and Perth in solidarity. Things
were escalating, with reports that some workers in Shettleston had attempted
to occupy the sorting office!

Sadly, the pace couldnt be maintained. The union got them all back
to work later the second day, and by the third day everyone was back at work,
with the union bleating about an official ballet on industrial action. Yeah,
right, heard that one before.

This strike was a short, sharp, shock, and it showed how very easily it is
to grind things to a halt. Hopefully, it wont be long before we see
the wildcat stalking the workplace once again, claws out!

PURE GENIUS

Guinness workers throughout Ireland placed pickets on all the companys
factories in a strike over the closure of the Dundalk packaging plant, a
move that would result in the loss of 147 jobs.

In general, there have been a lot of key industries totally shut down by
Western European workers over the last month indicating a significant level
of militancy. Here are a few other big ones that we have heard about:

We are sure that there are lots more, its just not that easy to find out
about them given the extent to which news is censored in this country. No
doubt we have only heard of the above actions because they are official trade
union sanctioned ones.

In true trade union style they have all been limited to one day (or series
of one day) strikes, a classic move which unions use to dissipate workers
anger and limit the damage done by the desire to strike. The only
benefit is to give their bureaucrats a little more power at the
bargaining table. Its the same story for working people all around
the world. If you want to strike to win serious victories, to create working
class unity, and use this unity as the basis for a revolutionary movement,
the unions are a waste of time.

MAYDAY FOR MAYDAY?

The state, its lackeys, and its allies the media have mounted a huge offensive
against the Mayday actions (more on Mayday below) Bumbling officers from
Her Majestys Finest launched a daring raid on an empty factory in Brixton,
South-East London, in a bid to foil anarchist preparations for the upcoming
Mayday celebrations. According to the right-wing broadsheet The Sunday
Telegraph, the Button Factory was partially destroyed to
prevent the site being used for drilling 500 rioters in the art
of modern urban warfare. And the left-wing broadsheet The Observer
has been doing its best to demoralise protesters, talking of splits in the
movement and how various groups (including the AF) have been targeted by
Special Branch. Most attention has focused on the bizarrely acronymed WOMBLES
(see resistance #24) with police harrassing activists
and the press spreading ridiculous bullshit (the tabloids are as bad as the
broadsheets). London mayor Ken Livingstone, darling of the left, has put
the boot in already calling for tough police action and urging people not
to attend. The plus side of all this state repression is it clearly shows
that the powers that be are rattled. The police in London will no doubt hassle
demonstrators on Mayday using Section 60 powers. These allow the police to
stop whoever they feel like and search them for weapons, but you dont
have to give your name and address. So when they start pumping you for
information answer No Comment.

Dont be intimidated - they cant stop us.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

As the War on Drugs continues unrelentingly we look at an alternative view
from nearly eighty year ago...

There are in France stringent laws aginst the traffic in drugs and
against those who take them. And as always happens, the scourge grows and
spreads in spite, and perhaps because of, the laws. The same is happening
in the rest of Europe and America. Doctor Courtois Suffit, of the French
Academy of Medicine, who, already last year [1921], had sounded the alarm
against the dangers of cocaine, noting the failure of penal legislation now
demands...new and more stringent laws.

It is the old mistake of legislators, in spite of experience invariabley
showing that laws, however barbarous they may be, have never served to suppress
vice or to discourage. The more severe the penalties imposed on the consumers
and trafficers of cocaine, the greater will be the attraction of forbidden
fruits and the fascination of the risks incurred by the consumer, and the
greater will be the profits made by the speculators, avid for money.

It is useless, therefore to hope for anything from the law. We must suggest
another solution. Make the use and sale of cocaine free, and open kiosks
where it would be sold at cost price or even under cost. And then launch
a great propagnada campaign to explain to the public, and let them see for
themselves, the evils of cocainel no one would engage in counter-propaganda
becaue nobody could exploit the misfortunes of cocaine addicts.

Certainly the harmful use of cocaine would not disappear completely, because
the social causes which create and drive these poor devils to the use of
drugs would still exist. But in any case the evil would decrease, because
nobody could make profits out of its sale, and nobody could speculate on
the hunt for speculators. And for this reason our suggestion either will
not be taken into account or it will be considered to be impractical and
mad. Yet intelligent and disinterested people might say to themselves: since
the penal laws have proved to be impotent, would it not be a good thing,
as an experiment, to try out the anarhcists method?

Review: Mayday Monopoly game guide.

This long awaited pamphlet explains how to play Mayday Monopoly
the latest day of action under the banner of anti-capitalism. The production
values of the pamphlet are excellent but the contents are a mixed bag, in
part reflecting the way politics of temporary coalition tend to become vaguely
liberal.

The aim of the guide is to encourage people to organise their own actions
on May 1st in London. The introduction and some of the articles are well
written, talking of the class nature of capitalist society and how to get
organised. But the main bulk of the pamphlet is about how to play the Mayday
Monopoly game and listing targets in London for each square of the monopoly
board. This part is much weaker, mostly being made up of lists of
bad companies like banks and shops owned by multi-nationals,
some being given a star for being extra bad.

This is moving away from the fact that capitalism is a social relationship
which affects us in our everyday lives, and shows that the aim of Mayday
monopoly is to protest against the worst aspects of capitalism. Nothing wrong
with that, but all sorts of liberals and leftists also have problems with
some aspects of captialism and will seek to reform it, not destroy it. To
get rid of capitalism will take more than a day of protest - a revolutionary
social movement based in our workplaces and communities needs to be created.

INSIDE INFORMATION

Another S26 show trial took place in Prague on April 3rd. This time, two
anarchists, Salvador Aczon and Miguel Oliv, were both sentenced to two years
for the heinous crime of throwing stones at the windows of Interbank causing
approximately $125 in damage - damage which the fat cat owners can obviously
ill afford. To send messages of support contact: P Houdek, PO Box 41, 565
01 Chocun, Czech Republic, email abc@csaf.cz